Piano-tool



R. C. BISHOP.

PIANO TOOL.

APPLICATION man NOV. 21. 1919.

Patented Dec. 14, 1920.

mm (13 ml ll mll' Hm Mil mMEMP/M W mun A TTORNEYS UNITED STATESRUTHERFORD CHARLES BISHOP, 0F ADA, OKLAHOMA.

PIANO-TOOL.

Application fi1ed November 21, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, RUTHERFORD CHARLES Brsrror, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Ada, in the county of Pontotoc and State ofOklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPiano-Tools, of which the following 18 a specification.

My invention relates to a tool used in the repair and regulation of p1ano act1ons, and the purpose of my inventlon 1s the provision of such atool which, although adaptable to innumerable uses in repairing andregulating piano actions, is especially designed for softening the feltof plano hammers and giving it the correct shape at its striking point,thereby improving the tone quallty of the piano.

The invention essentially consists in a pair of pivotally connected jawswhich are curved to properly grip and compress the felt portion of ahammer to effect a loosen ing of the felt at its striking edge, thusrestoring the original resiliency of the hammer. The invention alsoincludes an abrasive element which is so shaped and supported as tofacilitate the accurate reshaping of the hammer and an easy cleaning ofthe same.

I will describe one form of tool embodying my invention and will thenpo1nt out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a view showing in sideelevation one form of tool embodying my inven tion" Fig. 2 is a viewshowing in edge elevation the tool shown in Fig. 1, a piano hammer beingshown in phantom and gripped by the tool; and

Fig. 3 is a detail view of the abrasive ele ment and the manner in whichit is applied to a piano hammer.

Similar reference characters refer to s1m1- lar parts in each of theviews.

Referring specifically to the drawings, H and H designate a pair ofhandles which are disposed in the same plane and in spaced parallelrelation to each other for a portion of their lengths, as indicated atOne end of the linear portions 15 are 1nclined inwardly, as at 16, theseconverging portions being crossed and pivoted on a rivet or bolt 17.Formed on the ends of the converging portions 16 are a pair of jaws Jand J which are curved outwardly so that Specification of LettersPatent.

site ends of which are Patented Dec. 14, 1920. Serial No. 339,652.

their free ends are substantially parallel to an axial line through thebolt 17. As clearly shown, the jaws J and J are gradually tapered towardtheir free ends, it having been found in practice that the mostadvantageous dimensions of the jaws are e of an inch wide at the pointof connection with the handles and of an inch wide at their free ends.The inclined portion 16 of the handle H is provided with a threadedopening at a point adjacent the connection with the arm H to receive ascrew 18 which is arranged to abut the inner face of the arm H and tothereby limit the inward movement of the handles and consequently theinward movement of the jaws. It will be understood that by rotating thescrew 18 in one direction or the other, the contracted position of thejaws J and J can be readily varied.

l9 designates a leaf spring which is secured to the inner side of theinclined portion 16 of the arm H by'means of screws 20, the free end ofthe spring bearing against the inclined portion of the arm H and therebyserving to bias the handles outwardly so that in their normal positionthey are slightly spread. Secured to the inner side of the linearportion 15 of the arm H by means of screws 21 is an abrasive element"comprising a form or body 22 preferably formed of wood, such body beingof substantially arcuate formation with its flat edge contacting withthe linear portion 15 and secured thereto by the screws 21. Glued orotherwise secured to the outer edge of the body 22 is a strip 23 ofsandpaper or other suitable abrasive material, the oppobent around toembrace the curved ends of the body and to thereby securely retain thesame upon the body.

As illustrated to advantage in Fig. 1, the rear ends of the linearportion of the portion H and H are curved inwardly, as at 24 and 25,respectively, the latter curved portion being tapered to provide aprying bar which is capable of various uses in the repair and regulatingof piano actions as well as other parts of a piano mechanism.

In the application of the tool to a piano for restoring the originalresiliency of the felt, the hammer is placed between the jaws, as shownin Fig. 2, and the handles H and H compressed so that the jaws J and Jgrip the opposite sides of the barn mer at a point adjacent its strikingedge. By applying sufiicient pressure to the handle H, the jaws J and Jeffect acompression of the felt at the opposite sides of the hammerthereby forcing the felt outwardly at the striking edge of the hammerand thus loosening the felt andrestoring its original resiliency. thatbecause of the curvature of the jaws J and J= they are causedto embracethe hammer in the manner shown in Fig.2 so as to eifect a compression ofthe feltalong the striking edge of the hammer'with the greatest amountotcompression at the exact point at which the hammer strikes the pianostrings. This operation results in the f0rcing of the felt outwardly atthe exact point at which the hammer engages the strings so thatthegreatest amount ofresiliency is obtained at this point.

The screw 18, prevents undue compression of the hammer andlikewiseprevents crushing of other parts of piano actions to which the toolisparticularly adapted.

The abrasive element carried by the handle H is used in the mannerillustrated in Fig. 3, it being understood that the handle H can beswung outwardly to permit the unrestricted manipulation of the abrasiveelement in refinishing the working edge of the hammer. Because of thecurvature of It will be particularly noted.

the abrasive element the reshaping of a hammer can be accomplishedwithout necessitating the removal'of the hammer from the piano, it beingobvious that by proper manipulation of the body 22 the grooves andridges in the face of the hammer which result from the constant wearandcutting of the strings-after much use, can be removed, and theoriginal curvature of the hammer can be restored after being subjectedto the compression 'operationby the jaws J and J as has been previouslydescribed.

Although I have herein shown anddescribed only one form of piano toolembodying my invention, it is to be understood that various changes andmodifications may be resorted to without departing. from the spirit ofthe invention and the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1.v A piano tool comprising a pair of pivoted jaws disposed in spacedparallel relation curved :in the i'iorm of an arc, and tapered in widthfrom the point of their connection to their free ends.

2. A piano tool comprising, a pair of pivoted jaws disposed inspacedparallel relation and curved in the form of an arc.

=RUTHERFORD CHARLES BISHOP.

